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Daily Devotion

A couple of days ago we saw how God blesses the poor in spirit with the Kingdom of God and those who mourn with comfort. For those who have nothing to offer for their salvation (that’s all of us) and those who see their need for a savior, they hear the wonderful words of the Gospel which brings salvation and eternal life as a gift. This is a great hope, but what about here and now?

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Psalm 37 has the same message,

“In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.” – Psalm 37:10-11

Here the psalmist tells us not to worry when others do things that are wicked to try to get ahead, rather we should trust in God and delight in His ways. God has promised to provide for His people. He knows our needs here on earth and provides for them. So, we need not worry.

But what does it mean to meek?

It does not mean “milquetoast,” “Mama’s boy,” “wimp,” “doormat”, or anything else derogatory or pitiful. The meek are the powerless and oppressed. It’s a condition.

For some, we may be powerless or oppressed by other people or a government. We may be mistreated by our boss, cancelled by people in our society, or oppressed and even persecuted by our government.

For all of us, though, we are under constant attack from sin and the devil. 

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” – Ephesians 6:12

So, we are all the meek and this blessing is for all of us in Christ.

We can trust in the Lord who promises to care for us, give us the way out from temptation, and deliver us from the evil one. We also know that this powerlessness and oppression will not last forever. God will bless us to inherit the earth.

Surely there will be people who will wrong us from time to time either unintentionally or with malice. For now, we wait patiently for Him, as in Psalm 37. We don’t ignore wrongs or not seek justice, but we are willing to bear with each other, forgive one another, and allow God to bring justice either directly or through the governments He establishes.

Remember, though, Matthew 5:5 is a description of the blessings from God, not a new command. God isn’t telling you to be meek, He’s describing you as meek and telling you how He will bless you regarding this condition. God’s blessing will come in His timing. We may endure hardship for now, but Jesus has overcome our enemies and will judge the wicked and we will inherit the earth.

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father,

Sometimes we feel helpless and hopeless in the situations we find ourselves in. We feel powerless and oppressed by people around us, by the devil and his attacks, and even by our own sinful nature. Remind us that we are not helpless or hopeless. You are our help in time of need and this situation will only last for a while. You will raise us up and we will inherit the earth as you promise.

Amen.

Daily Devotion

There are many things in the world that can cause us to mourn.

• We may mourn over the way our society seems to be shifting away from Jesus.
• We may mourn because our nation seems so divided.
• We may mourn over wars.
• We may mourn over the destructive choices a friend or family member are making.
• We may mourn over our sins.
• And, we may mourn over the death of a loved one.

Jesus said in His sermon on the mount that those who mourn are blessed.

Wait…what? How is it a blessing to mourn?

Mourning comes from a sense of loss, a sense that something isn’t right. This awareness is a blessing.

In the previous statement, Jesus said that those who are poor in spirit are blessed. The poor in spirit are those who are sinners and have nothing to offer God for their salvation. They are blessed because salvation is a gift. That passage doesn’t say anything about the poor in spirit recognizing they are poor in spirit. This verse does.

When we realize that we are poor in spirit, that we are sinners with nothing to offer God, it brings mourning. Our conscience tells us we are sinners. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin. Even if we turn to the Bible to see how to live to try to make things right, even God’s Law shows us our sin all the more. We know something is wrong and there is nothing we can do about it. We mourn.

In this mourning, however, God blesses us. The Holy Spirit moves us to repentance and in repentance we hear the wonderful words of Christ…

“Your sins are forgiven!”

“But, God, I know what I’ve done!”

“Your sins are forgiven!”

“I have nothing to give, I’ve done nothing to make it right!”

“Jesus gave for you. He gave His life. He made it right. You don’t have to do anything but receive it. Your sins are forgiven!“

What great comfort! What a wonderful blessing!

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for the comfort You give us. Surely You have borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Be with us when we mourn. Remind us of Your promises. We are truly blessed.

Amen.

Daily Devotion

Over the next several weeks I thought we’d focus on the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes (Blessed are the…). Before we begin, however, we need to understand what Jesus is doing here. Sometimes these passages are read as a new set of commandments or as Christian secret to happiness.

However, these statements aren’t prescribing what we must do in order to be blessed (or even saved) by God, they are describing how God blesses us. In other words, this isn’t, “If I ‘x’, then God will ‘y’.” It’s a list of several ways God blesses His people and in situations which may run contrary to how our culture thinks of being blessed.

With this in mind…

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 5:3

Sometimes we think we must become the greatest Christian ever. The more faithful I am and the less I sin, the more God will love me, the more He will bless me. That is certainly how the world seems to work. If I work harder, I get a raise. If I do the things people want, they will like me. However, God is different than the world. Here He is blessing the poor in the spirit, not the spiritually rich.

What does it mean to be poor in spirit?

Most of us know that we are, at least to some extent, poor in spirit. God has given us all a conscience and we know there are times we do things that aren’t right…a lot of times. However, the Bible shows us that we aren’t just lacking a little bit. It’s not like we’re the spiritually middle-class who can give a decent amount, but need God to cover the rest. The Bible shows us just how poor in spirit we really are.

To be spiritually poor means to not have anything to contribute in our relationship with God.

This can seem bad at first. It’s scary to see how sinful we really are and how unrighteous we are. Thankfully, God doesn’t leave us without hope. He sent His Son to die for us, to be that savior we so desperately need. Jesus came to bring the Kingdom of God.

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” – Mark 1:15

It is through the preaching of the Good News of Jesus received in faith that we are brought into the God’s Kingdom. In Matthew 11:5, when asked by John the Baptist if He was the Christ, Jesus replied with a series of things from Isaiah that the Messiah would do and showed how He was doing them. This includes, “the poor have good news preached to them.”

This is the Kingdom of God that Jesus was sent to establish and this is the same Kingdom of God which we have through faith in Jesus Christ.

Yes, we are poor in spirit, but know that you are blessed! For Jesus came to bring us into the Kingdom of God. We don’t have to earn it or buy it. He gives it to us as a gift…as a blessing…received by faith. What a wonderful blessing God has given us!

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father,

We confess that we have sinned against You and our fellow man. We are poor in spirit. Thank You for sending Your Son to die for us. Establish Your Kingdom of the Gospel in our hearts.

Amen.

Daily Devotion

This passage is both a difficult and freeing passage.

I remember when I was in middle school I was bullied a bit by this one kid. He never actually hit me, but he tried to intimidate me and provoke a fight. I guess he figured if he could get me to throw the first punch, he wouldn’t get in trouble for beating me up. My response wasn’t great. While I never did throw that first punch, I wanted to. I thought about it a lot and if the opportunity had presented itself outside of school, I might have done it. Thankfully, it didn’t.

A fight with that bully would have lasted a few minutes at most, but my sinful nature used that to capture my mind for weeks.

It’s hard to love those who hate you or persecute you. It’s hard to forgive those who have hurt you. That, however, is what Jesus is telling us to do.

We are to love everyone, even our enemies.

The amazing thing is that when we do that, it frees us. Had I responded to the bully with love and forgiveness, I wouldn’t have dwelled for weeks on how I could get my revenge. I would have been freed from the anger, hurt, and hatred I felt. I heard one person say,

“When we hold a grudge, it’s like drinking poison to get back at the person who hurt us. We’re just hurting ourselves.”

So, how to we learn to love our enemy and pray for those who persecute us?

Pray about it and think about Jesus.

• Pray: I know that sounds cliché at first, but prayer should always be our first response. It is God working in us that fights our old sinful nature.
• Think About Jesus: When we think about Jesus, we remember that He lived this out for us as a perfect example.

Romans 5:8 says:

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

We were once enemies of God, but He showed us love. He loved us so much He died for us that we could be forgiven and saved. He didn’t wait for us to change or start loving Him, He just loved us.

When I consider who I was and how Jesus treated me. It makes it a bit easier to love the person who has wronged me and, by the grace and power of God, we love them. For all those times we don’t…well…”While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for loving me. Thank you for loving me even when I was still rebellious against You. Thank you for continuing to love me even when I sin now. Forgive me for the times I have not showed love to others and help me to love not only those who show me love, but even those who hurt or persecute me.

Amen.

Daily Devotion

I’ll give a little warning at the start here. This post is a little longer than normal. Normally, I try to keep the blog posts to a few paragraphs, but I felt this topic needed a little more.

Evil is all around us.

We live in a fallen and sinful world and we can’t go a day without someone doing something that harms us…or we doing something that harms someone else.

But how are we, as Christians, to respond when being harmed in some way?

The passage from Matthew 5:38-42 can guide us, but we need to understand it in its proper context. At first glance, this passage can seem to take a different approach than Jesus’ previous statements in the Sermon on the Mount. In previous statements, Jesus expounded on a commandment, taking the listener from a purely surface level understanding (don’t kill), to a deeper understanding of the principle behind the command (don’t hate or harm).

In this passage, Jesus seems to be completely changing the Law. However, He’s not.

The original command,

“An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,”

is recorded in Exodus 21:24-25 and Deuteronomy 19:21. Unlike the 10 Commandments, which were given for all people, the context of this command is where God is giving commands for how the new Israelite government is to be run.

Basically, God is telling the government that the punishment should fit the crime. It both enables and limits the government. It enables the government to give adequate punishment and restitution but limits it from excessive punishment. If the perp took a tooth, you don’t just give him a stern talking to nor do you take off his head.

The issue, however, is that many people were taking that command and applying it to themselves, personally, rather than keeping it for the government. This person hit me. Instead of letting the judge deal with him, I just punched him in the face. That’s a misuse of the command.

The key to understanding this passage is the doctrine of the two kingdoms as well as the doctrine of vocation. The doctrine of the two kingdoms says that God operates in the world through two kingdoms…

• The church which offers grace and mercy.
• The government which has laws and the power of the sword.

The two kingdoms are distinct and should not be confused or mixed.

The doctrine of vocation is simply that we all have roles that we play in our lives that have different rules and responsibilities. Our vocations are things like our job, our relationships (father, son, husband), and our role in society, such as being a neighbor and citizen. I can and should do things as a father related to my children that others who are not their father cannot do. A police officer can do things in their job that others cannot do. Etc.

What is Jesus saying in this passage?

What Jesus is saying here is that the Christian does not seize the power of the government and exact revenge on those who wrong them. They should allow the government to perform it’s role, while they perform their role, to love and forgive.

I think there is an analogy in the game of Football. There are times in games when one player breaks the rules and pushes another player after a play. For the player who is pushed, their responsibility is to let it go and keep playing football, that’s their role. They are to let the officials call a penalty on the other player, that’s the role of the officials. A problem occurs when the player who was pushed, pushes back. Then they take on the role of the official, to punish the penalty, which is not their role. What happens? Usually, that player who pushed back gets called for their own penalty.

So, how are we to respond when someone harms us?

This is a little tricky at first, but it makes sense if we keep the two kingdoms separate and we consider our vocations. Each of us, as Christians, have multiple roles in life. I am a Christian/child of God, but I am also a father, husband, citizen, neighbor, etc. Each of these roles brings different responsibilities and we must live them out simultaneously.

Christian: In my role as a Christian, Jesus is saying that I should not resist evil out of selfishness and should not seek to avenge myself when I am wronged. My concern is not with worldly things and I am to love all people and seek their forgiveness and salvation. Can I, however, act to help the assailant to avoid sin either with my words or actions? I think this requires us to seek wisdom in the situation.

Citizen: In my role as a citizen, I am to obey the laws of the land and uphold my responsibilities. The law of the land is to report crimes or potential crimes, including crimes against me, so I should do that. The law of the land also permits me to defend myself. So, I may do that, but I should try to avoid causing undo harm. Also, I do not avenge myself, but I allow the government to fulfill its responsibility in punishing wrong-doing.

Father/Husband/Neighbor: My role as a father, husband, neighbor, etc. is, in part, to protect and defend my children, wife, neighbor, etc. So, if someone threatens my family or neighbor, etc. I am to act to defend them. This also applies people who are police officers, soldiers, and other government officials who are to fulfill their roles of protecting the citizens. One could also argue that self-defense is also included here as to allow myself to be killed is to deprive my wife of her husband, my children of their father, and so on.

Where these two kingdoms collide is where we find that Jesus is actually doing something very similar in this passage as He had in previous passages. He isn’t throwing out the old command, he is correcting those who would take the role of the government into their own hands and addressing the condition of the Christian’s heart.

We should also keep the examples Jesus gives in mind. The slap was a form of insult, not an intent to cause serious harm or death. Let the insult slide. Then we have a law suit where someone feels wronged and you are to go above and beyond to bring peace in the relationship. Next, the forced walking. Under Roman law, a soldier could force someone to carry their pack for a mile. Jesus says to go an extra mile. Again, this brings peace…and protects you from harm from the soldier. Finally, we have the beggar and borrower and giving them what they need. 

In all these examples, the drive is love your neighbor and bring peace, even sacrificially going the extra mile to do so. None of these are life-threatening situations where a person would need to defend themselves. After all, the Law is summed up as love the Lord your God with all your heart mind and soul love your neighbor as yourself. That includes the 5th Commandment. We are to love and protect our neighbor and family as we are to love and protect ourselves, though there may be times when we choose not to protect ourselves.

In all these situations we should seek God’s wisdom to know how to act, but as a Christian, we at least know that are to love all people, seek their well-being, and forgive their wrongs. We are not to harbor hatred or malice in our hearts nor seek revenge. We are called to keep this condition in our hearts as we also live out our other roles, where we are under the authority of the government and are to protect and seek the well-being of our family and neighbors.

Unfortunately, our sinful natures constantly push us in the other direction, demanding revenge, demanding that we should be able to retaliate, and justifying our “righteous” cause the whole time.

Thankfully, Jesus deals with us the same way He commands us to deal with others. He loves us and seeks our forgiveness and salvation. When we seek revenge or hold malice and hatred in our heart, we can go to Him and confess our sin and receive forgiveness. We can also ask for help that we might forgive  and have self control and He will help.

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father,

Protect us this day and every day from the evils of the world.  When those evils do come, help us to respond with love and forgiveness in our hearts.  Help us also to allow the government to perform it’s duty instead of taking matters inappropriately into our own hands.  Please also be with our government officials, that they might rule justly perform their roles faithfully as your stewards.

Amen.

Daily Devotion

Today, we continue looking at the Sermon on the Mount, starting at Matthew 5:33.

“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil. – Matthew 5:33-37

In His sermon on the mount, Jesus does quite a bit of unpacking of the 10 Commandments. As sinful people, the people of Israel (like all of us) had taken the 10 Commandments and done two things with them.

1. They viewed them as the means by which they made themselves right before God.
2. They found loopholes and work-arounds to be able to say they were following the commandments, even if they weren’t.

So, for example, you could hate your brother and harm him in certain ways, but not kill him and you’ve still followed the 5th commandment.

In today’s passage, Jesus is dealing with the 8th Commandment not to lie. One phrase that has always amused me is when people have been talking to you for a while and then they start a statement with,

“To be completely honest…”

Wait! What? Have you been lying to me up until now?

Speak the Truth:
Jesus approaches the commandment in a simple, but perhaps surprising way. He says not only should you not swear falsely (lie), but you shouldn’t take an oath at all. Some people have taken this passage to mean they can’t take the oath at the beginning of a legal testimony, but that’s not what Jesus is getting at.

What he’s saying is just be honest.

If you don’t lie or bend the truth, but simply be honest, there’s no need to take an oath.

The oath is said to either assure someone you aren’t lying or to give the impression that you aren’t lying. But if you make a habit of telling the truth, you won’t need that. You won’t need the extra element of an oath to convince people you are telling the truth if you are known for telling the truth. They will rightly believe you all the time.

Interestingly, psychologists will tell you that when someone starts a sentence with something like, “To be completely honest…” there’s a very good chance they are about to lie to you.

Speak the Truth in Love:
Just like our Matthew passage, Ephesians 4:15 also tells us to tell the truth but adds that it should be done in love.

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,

The truth can be used as a weapon. It can be used to harm and destroy rather than heal and built up. We are to always speak the truth, but we are also to show love to each other. If a friend were to come to me in confidence and confide in me a struggle they were going through, I could go tell everyone what they told me and still be speaking the truth, but I wouldn’t be showing love.

Love is to govern all that we do, including speaking the truth. That means considering the time, people, place, tone, and purpose of how we speak the truth to be sure it is done in a loving way that heals, protects, and builds each other up in Christ.

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father,

Please forgive me for the times I have lied. Help me to always speak truthfully. Please, also give me the wisdom to know when, how, and to whom I should share truths so that I always speak the truth in love.

Amen.

Daily Devotion 

“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” – Matthew 5:31-32

For a long time in the U.S., the divorce rate was increasing. Between infidelity, no-fault divorces, and a general loss of reverence for the institution of marriage, people had less and less of a problem divorcing. People were taking the life-long commitment of marriage less and less seriously.

Then over the last 20 years or so, the divorce rate compared to the population started to drop. According to the CDC, we went from

• 4 divorces per 1000 people in the year 2000
• to 3.2 divorces per 1000 people in 2016

That sounds good at first until you see that during that same time period we se the marriage rate dropped from

• 8.2 (in 2000)
• to 6.9 (2016)

Fewer people are getting married in the first place. We’ve gone from not taking the commitment as seriously to not bothering to make the commitment in the first place.

In our passage for today, we see Jesus re-emphasizing the seriousness of divorce…or maybe it would be better to say the seriousness of the commitment of marriage.

Marriage isn’t meant to be entered and exited easily or lightly…it’s not meant to be exited at all. Later, in Matthew 19, Jesus says divorce was not meant to be at all but was a concession by God due to the hard hearts of the Israelite people.

He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.” – Matthew 19:4-8

Marriage is meant to be a life-long commitment.

Sin makes that difficult. Love and forgiveness make it possible. That love and forgiveness we show are an extension of the love and forgiveness we receive from God through Jesus.

The Church: The Bride of Christ
Throughout the Bible, God uses marriage as an analogy for His relationship with His people, whether Israel or the church. Here, too, sin is a problem. Here, too, love and forgiveness is the answer; not our love and forgiveness, but God’s.

We constantly struggle with our faithfulness and fail repeatedly, but God is faithful. His love never fails. His forgiveness overcomes our failures. Where we continue to dirty our white wedding garment, Jesus blood continues to wash it white as new.

For those of you who are married (or will be one day), I pray that God will bless your marriage with love and forgiveness. You will have struggles, but love covers a multitude of sins.

For those who have divorced, there is forgiveness, grace, and healing in Christ where needed.

For all of us, married or single, I pray that we will always turn to Jesus, confessing our sinfulness, knowing that He will always be faithful. His love is forever.

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father,

Please be with all who are married. Help them to love one another as Jesus has loved them. When they sin against or hurt each other, help them to forgive each other. Please also be with those who are divorced. Forgive them where needed and heal them. Please also be with those who are unmarried, but wish to have a spouse. Give them patience and contentment and provide the loving relationship they desire according to Your will. Please also move in our churches and our American culture, to once again cherish the gift of marriage.

Amen.

If you married, tell your spouse you love them and, where needed, forgive them.

Daily Devotion 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.” – Matthew 5:27-30

Today, we continue our look at the Sermon on the Mount. Verses 27-30 is the second of six passages where Jesus expounds on the Law, explaining how the people had been missing the meaning behind the Law.

In this example, Jesus deepens their understanding of the 6th commandment. As with the commandment about murder, this commandment isn’t just about the outward act of adultery, but the mind/heart sin of lust. It’s a sobering thought.

Once again, we are faced with our sin, but is it really that big of a deal?

Jesus answers that in the verses that follow. Sin is so serious that it would be better to cut out an eye or remove a hand than allow those members to continue to lead you into sin. Another way we see the seriousness of sin is on the cross where Jesus gave His life for our sin.

Now, Jesus isn’t telling us that at the first sign of temptation we should start dismembering ourselves. What Jesus is addressing here is the seriousness of sin, particularly unrepentant sin.

Sin is destructive.

It, by definition, leads us away from God. When we sin, it is the Holy Spirit in us who moves us to repentance. When we, however, resist the Holy Spirit and refuse to repent we risk everything.

When we decide that the lust of our eyes or the anger in our heart is more important to us that God’s love and forgiveness, we are shunning His gracious gift. As we continue in that sin, we harden ourselves against the continual prompting of the Holy Spirit. Eventually, we may choose to reject God’s gift of forgiveness.

All sin is harmful and dangerous, but a sinful lifestyle is even more dangerous because it regularly resists the Holy Spirit. This may be things like…

• Living with a boyfriend or girlfriend you aren’t married to
• Working a job that where you have to regularly deceive people

Of course, we can also have sinful habits we are unrepentant about as well.

Jesus gives us a sobering warning. Do not choose a life of sin. The temporary pleasure of your sin is not worth Hell. So, if something in our life is continually leading us into sin, we should remove that from our life or take specific precautions to prevent it from leading us into sin.

These may be things like…

• Pouring out any alcohol in your house if you struggle with alcoholism
• Putting a filter on your computer if you struggle with pornography
• Finding a new living situation until you are married
• Getting counseling for a sinful habit
• Putting boundaries on a relationship with a friend who is a bad influence

To be clear, it’s not that we sin and instantly lose our salvation. It’s that when we continue to sin without repentance, we may eventually reject our faith and God’s grace. It’s the rejection of faith, then that condemns us.

So, strengthening your faith with positive actions can also help, be it…

• Reading the Bible
• Praying
• Joining a Bible study
• Going to church regularly
• Private confession and absolution

We sin every day, but the Holy Spirit moves in us to bring us to repentance. When we through faith respond with repentance, we are assured of God’s forgiveness. Praise the Lord that He does that. God doesn’t just leave us in our sin. He doesn’t even sit and wait for us to start feeling repentant. He moves in us through His Word to confess our sin and He forgives and renews us. Praise the Lord!

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for loving me so much that even when I sin, You move in me to lead me to You in repentance and You forgive me. Help me to always be repentant and always look to You for forgiveness, knowing that You will always keep Your promise to forgive me.

Amen.

If you have been holding on to a sin and resisting repentance, take some time today to pray, confess, and be forgiven.

Daily Devotion 

“So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.” – Matthew 5:23-26

Every week, right before we celebrate Communion (the Lord’s Supper), we have the passing of the peace. We walk around the sanctuary greeting each other and sharing the peace of Christ with each other. If you’ve gone to church for long time, it probably feels normal and natural. However, to someone who hasn’t been in church before, it actually can seem like a very strange and disruptive practice.

The service is going along doing things one might expect Christians to do…

• We sing songs.
• We read a few passages from the Bible.
• We listen to a message.
• We pray.
• Screeeeeech!…

Then it’s like we decided an hour was too long, so we put an intermission in the service.

“Alright, everyone can get up and walk around for a while talking with each other…and say something we don’t normally say in everyday conversation.”

Why Do It?
It can seem awkward and like a disruption to the flow of the service. So, why do we do it? Are we stretching our legs? Is it just to greet people or is there something more to it?

Here’s Why.
The passage from Matthew 5:23-26 tells us. In this passage, Jesus is continuing to talk about our relationship with others and its connection with our relationship with God. In the verses right before this, Jesus says we shouldn’t hold grudges or harm our brother/sister with our words.

Now, He brings it to a point, you can’t separate your relationship with God from your relationship with others. God’s love and forgiveness compels us to love and forgive each other.

As we prepare for Communion, we examine ourselves and confess our sins, looking to Jesus for forgiveness in His body and blood. The passing of the peace during this preparation time is an opportunity to set aside any grudge or issue you may have with your brother or sister in Christ.

We have peace with God because our sins have been forgiven in Christ and we pass that same peace to each other, a peace between each other that comes from our forgiving each other as Christ has forgiven us. Then, we come as one body to Communion, truly unified, to receive Christ’s body and blood.

The passing of the peace is not an intermission and it’s more than just a time to greet each other. It’s a time to go to your brother or sister and offer or receive forgiveness and assure them that there is peace between you.

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for forgiving me. Help me to forgive my Christian brothers and sisters and, when necessary, to confess and receive forgiveness from them. Make us one, truly unified in peace, love, and forgiveness we have in You.

Amen.

Next time you participate in the passing of the peace, think about the peace you are sharing and, if your are not at peace with someone, make peace with them. That’s what Jesus did for you.

Daily Devotion 

In our last devotional post, I wrote about how the Jewish religious leaders of Jesus’ day had lost the real meaning of the Law. The Law had, to them, become a list of very specific rules to follow. They had lost the heart of the Law, that we are to love God and love our neighbor. Starting in verse 21 of Matthew 5, Jesus proceeds to illustrate how the religious leaders were missing the point.

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” – Matthew 5:21-22

When we try to deal with God according to the Law and our works, we often try to lower the bar to a point that we think we can achieve. Don’t murder. I can do that. See, I’m a good person, I’m not going around murdering people. That’s the same thing the Jewish religious leaders were doing.

In this passage, however, Jesus pulls the rug out from that approach. He brings us back to the underlying purpose of the Law, to love God and love our neighbor. Sure, you may not be physically killing your neighbor, but are you holding a grudge for something they did instead of forgiving them? Have you said nasty things about them or called them names?

When I was a kid, I learned the phrase,

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

But I learned through experience that it’s not true. You’ve probably learned that lesson, too. Words can hurt…badly. In fact, bones and bruises heal in a few days or weeks, the damage from words can last a lifetime.

Loving each other means more than refraining from killing. It’s not hating each other. It’s not destroying each other with words.

This passage gets real at the end.

“whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.”

What are we to do? Shoot, I’ve done that and worse. What hope do I have?

When the bar of the Law is placed correctly, we can never achieve it. We have all fallen short of the glory of God. So, we don’t approach God by our works, but by His mercy in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Through faith in Jesus our sins, even those nasty things we’ve called people, have been removed. They are as far from us as the East is from the West. Instead, we have been made holy and righteous in God’s sight.

Being made holy and righteous by God (not of ourselves), we are then called to walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5) and receive the fruit of the Spirit. In this case, we look to patience, gentleness, self-control, and most of all…love. These are the work of God within us which help us to let go of the anger and control our tongue.

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father,

I confess I have held grudges instead of forgiving. I have called people names and torn them down with my words instead of building them up. I am sorry and ask for Your forgiveness, trusting Your promise that You will forgive. Help me to love others. Help me to forgive others as You have forgiven me. Give me patience, gentleness, self-control, and love.

Amen.

If you’ve been holding a grudge, ask God for forgiveness and then ask Him to help you to forgive as well and let go of the grudge.